Dave, the very short arm that does the vertical travel creates some vertical tracking issues, and some effective vertical mass/resonance issues. Dut to the ultra short geometry of the smaller arm, it creates wide swings in VTA as even small warps pass under the stylus. Second, vertical mass/resonance is affected by the very low mass of this small arm, making careful cartridge choice mandatory. Third, having strong magnetic flux fields in the damping mechanism near the pivot, where the wires exit the tonearm, may cause some interaction with the signal wires. And fourth, the very high weight of the overall tonearm package can make it troublesome on some suspended subchassis TTs.
However, it does do a great job of solving the need to greatly increase the horizontal mass of the tonearm system, to better stabilize the arm with respect to the lateral deflections normally imparted by the stylus. It is built like a tank, has very nice fit, finish, and appearance, and is quality all the way. It may even qualify as a "status symbol" type of tonearm.
Sonically, I find it did some things very well, like bass response and detail, but it was lacking in some other areas. I feel that a Graham will be alot more liquid, an SME will have better detail, and an OL will do everything better. But the DV arm is not a bad one and you could do alot worse. If you like very "industrial looking" arms, take a look at the Tri-planar Ultimate. That is a very high-tech arm, and sounds better than the DV, in my opinion.
